Over five kilometres of the Padma Bridge has become visible with the installation of its 34th span on Sunday.

The ‘2E’span, weighing 3,150 tonnes, was installed on pillars no 7 and 8 at Mawa point in the morning, said Executive Engineer (Bridge) Dewan Md Abdul Quader.

The span was brought from Kumarbhog Construction Yard on Saturday .

Earlier, the 33rd span of the Padma multipurpose bridge was installed on October 19. Three spans were installed over the bridge in the current month.

Besides, the 35th span will be installed on no 2 and 3 pillar on October 30 and the authorities concerned have set a target to install all the spans within December.

A total of 42 pillars will be installed on the 6.5 kilometre bridge and 21 each will be installed on Mawa point and Shariatpur’s Jajira point while total 41 spans will be installed.

The construction work of Padma Bridge started in 2014.

The authorities concerned expect to complete the work of the multipurpose bridge within 2021

On January 20, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the bridge will be opened to traffic by 2021.

Once in operation, the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project till date, will connect 21 southern districts with the capital and is expected to boost the GDP by 1 percent.

Read Also: 4.8km of Padma Bridge now visible

Bangladesh has sought Greek support for the early repatriation of Rohingyas continuously being persecuted in their homeland in western Rakhine province of Myanmar.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Greece Ashud Ahmed discussed the issue while presenting his credentials to President Katerina Sakellaropoulou at a ceremony at the Greek Presidency in Athens recently, said the Embassy on Sunday. 

The Ambassador briefed the President about the burden Bangladesh has been bearing for the last four years by giving shelter to over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Myanmar people on humanitarian ground.

During the meeting held between the President and the Ambassador following the presentation of the credentials, the President congratulated and felicitated the Ambassador for taking over the important assignment. 

Thanking the President for receiving him and giving her audience, the Ambassador conveyed to the President the greetings and regards of Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Mentioning about the existing excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Greece, the Ambassador expressed his commitment to contribute towards further strengthening the bilateral relations through identifying new areas of mutual cooperation for the benefit of the two friendly countries. 

He mentioned that Greece was one of the first countries that recognised Bangladesh after its independence in 1971.

Speaking on Bangladesh, especially the enviable growth rate and continuous upward trajectory of its economy under the government of the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Ambassador informed the Greek President of the different prospective sectors including ship building, tourism, recycling and energy for consideration of the Greek investors and business community mentioning about various facilities and incentives being offered by the incumbent business friendly government.

The Ambassador suggested the President that a business delegation can accompany the Foreign Minister during his reciprocal bilateral visit to Bangladesh at a mutually convenient time so that the two business communities can see for themselves the potential areas for investment and business development. 

He informed the President of the successful ever bilateral visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister to Greece last year that saw a huge dynamism for tapping potential areas of investment and doing business by the two business people.

In response to the issues raised by the Ambassador, the Greek President hoped that the bilateral relations would be further strengthened during his tenure and expressed her happiness over the existing business and investment potentials in Bangladesh for exploring by the two business communities. 

The President conveyed her regards for the President and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh wishing them good health and peace and prosperity of the country.

Read Also: China terms US remarks on its role over Rohingya issue ‘inappropriate’

Two people were killed and five others injured when a microbus hit a truck on Dhaka-Khulna Highway at Kamarkhali in Madhukhali upazila of Faridpur early Sunday.

The deceased were identified as Mosharraf Hossain, 80, and Amena Begum, 65, of Alamdanga upazila in Chuadanga district.

The accident took place when the microbus crashed into the goods-laden truck, leaving the two people killed on the spot and five others injured, said Abdur Rahim, sub-inspector of Karimpur Police outpost under Faridpur highway Police Station.

The injured were taken to a local hospital.

Also read: 2 sisters killed in Chapainawabganj road accident

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc worldwide, the number of confirmed cases globally surpassed 42.5 million on Sunday, according to data by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

Till now, 42,532,198 people have been tested positive for Covid-19 while 1,148,943 deaths have been reported so far, according to the JHU data.

The United States has witnessed the highest numbers in deaths due to Covid-19 as the country’s total death toll counted 224,771 followed by Brazil, India, Mexico and the UK.

The US has registered 8,571,943 cases till date.

Besides, India, which has been counted as the second worst-hit country in number of cases, has recorded 7,814,682 cases as of Sunday morning, according to the data.

The South Asian country has recorded 117,956 deaths so far.

Brazil is the second country in the world in number of deaths from Covid-19, behind the United States, and third in number of cases, behind the United States and India.

The country reported another 432 deaths from the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 156,903, the government announced on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Health, 26,979 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,380,635.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, has also been the most affected, with 1,089,255 cases and 38,726 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 298,823 cases and 20,171 deaths.

Since early September, the country has seen a decline in the number of cases and deaths. According to the latest figures, the average number of deaths from the virus in the last week fell to 471 per day, the lowest average since May 7

Russia registered 16,521 Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, slightly down from the record high of 17,340 a day earlier, the country's Covid-19 response center said on Saturday.

Russia's cumulative number of coronavirus cases has grown to 1,497,167, including 25,821 deaths and 1,130,818 recoveries, the center said in a statement.

Moscow has seen a spike in Covid-19 infections, tallying 4,453 new cases over the past day, bringing the city's total to 391,361.

Russia has been witnessing a steep growth in Covid-19 cases over the past weeks, after many restrictions were lifted and people resumed gathering in large groups.

Situation in Bangladesh

 Bangladesh recorded 1,094 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours till 8 am Sunday, pushing up the total caseload to 397,507.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 19 more people died from Covid-19 during the period taking the total fatalities to 5,780.

Meanwhile, the DGSH said, 1,498 patients have recovered and with that the total recoveries stand at 313,563.

The recovery rate has climbed to 78.88 percent as the fatality rate declined slightly to 1.45 percent.

Currently, there are 78,164 active cases in the country.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8. The number of cases reached the 300,000-mark on August 26. The first death was reported on March 18 and the death toll exceeded 5,000 on September 22.

Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 1094 new cases, 19 deaths

The safety of rivers banks across the country are hardly possible without proper river management, said Zahid Faruk, state minister of Water Resources on Saturday.

The Prime Minister has directed to ensure safety of River banks which is not possible without proper river management, he said.

The State Minister came up with the remarks after visiting a river dredging programme in Mehendiganj upazila of Barishal.

River management is also essential to save the people from river erosion, he said adding “The government is operating two projects in Ulania and Hizla area of Mehendiganj.”

“We can now use dredger machines for river management as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has initiated unprecedented development in the past ten years.”, Faruk said.

Water Development officials, local MP Pankaj Nath, Jubo League Leader Mahmudul Haque and Chhatra League leaders were also present there among others.

Also read: Water Resources state minister Zahid Faruk recovers from Covid-19